Point-to-Point vs. MEAP – The right approach for an integrated mobility solution

Executive Summary

Enterprise mobility has transformed the way businesses engage with customers, partners and staff while exchanging critical information. Innovative applications are only part of an overall mobility solution – integrating them with existing systems in a scalable manner is equally important and can be even more challenging.

There are two commonly used approaches for building integrated mobility solutions: Point-to-point integration and Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP). This paper explains why an enterprise mobility integration solution is needed, describes and compares the two approaches, and provides a guide for how to choose the right mobility integration technique for your organization. The paper also examines various MEAP platforms available and the key differences between popular platforms.

From a mobile application development standpoint, there is another widely used approach: cross-platform development frameworks. These frameworks allow developers to build once and deploy across multiple device platforms. However, these frameworks lack integration and mobile device management capabilities, and therefore we have excluded them from consideration for the purposes of this whitepaper. To learn more about cross-platform development, download our whitepaper: “How to Choose the Right Architecture for your Mobile Application” – https://www.rapidvaluesolutions.com/whitepaper/

Enterprise Mobility Solutions

Gone are the days when employees would sit in front of their desktop computers all day to do their work and communicate with coworkers and clients. More and more companies are adapting enterprise mobility solutions to make it easier for their employees to work out of the office using mobile devices and cloud services to perform business tasks. Point-to-Point: An application deployment technique which allows mobile users within the organization to perform a business operation and engage with co-workers and customers. It is mainly designed for smaller organizations.

The two most popular enterprise mobility deployment techniques are:

01

Point-to-Point: An application deployment technique which allows mobile users within the organization to perform a business operation and engage with co-workers and customers. It is mainly designed for smaller organizations.

02

Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP): An application middleware designed specifically for mobile enterprise application users. It allows controlled access to all mobile applications hosted on a particular platform. Employees and enterprise customers can access and exchange data from any mobile device to perform a number of business operations.

Denition of MEAP

There is a general tendency to combine MEAP/middleware tools with cross-platform mobile development tools. We would define MEAP as a platform that includes:

As the name implies, cross-platform development frameworks provide the ability to develop once and deploy across multiple platforms, but mainly on the client/device side with minimal support for integration. Since this paper is about integrated mobility solutions, we focus on the MEAP approach, with the view that cross-platform frameworks are outside the scope of the discussion.

Point-to-Point Solutions vs. MEAP

Point-to-Point Approach

Typically, a Point-to-Point (P2P) integration solution is used to develop an independent native application for each business requirement, using individual resources/middleware to handle the data and control layer of the application. This solution is useful when data segregation is possible and independent security for the application is required.

Approach

Pros

Cons

P2P Solution

User experience is rich (typically based on native application development).

Need to build each application based on the specific business requirement, with limited reusability.

Less expensive to build compared to MEAP if the features required are straightforward.

Any changes required in the application need developer involvement.

Performance is higher compared to MEAP since there are fewer applications to handle.

Requires additional integration with identity management.

Requires third-party connectors to integrate with external systems.

MEAP Approach

Gartner Group has developed a concept called the Rule of Three for determining when to use a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP). According to the rule, you should use the MEAP approach for enterprise mobility if the business requirements include (i) Three or more mobile applications, (ii) Three or more mobile OS (Operating Systems) and (iii) Integration with at least three back-end data sources.

Approach

Pros

Cons

MEAP

Highly scalable architecture.

Initial investment is high – requires upfront payment for the solution, maintenance fee and user based fee.

– Flexibility in expanding mobility – Seamless user experience with increase in number of users and/or mobile applications on the platform

Implementation Cost

Initial investment is low

Initial investment is high

Performance

Decreases as number of hosted mobile applications increases

High, with optimized services between client and server networks

Overall Cost

Customizations are expensive. IT cost increases with increase in team size (mobile enterprise app users)

– Lower administrative, maintenance and support costs – Cost-effective if many mobile enterprise applications are to be supported supported

Summary Comparison Between Two Key MEAPs

The table below summarizes the differences between two popular MEAPs: Kony and SAP Unwired. We have selected only these two MEAPs for comparison to illustrate key parameters you should evaluate before deciding on the right MEAP for your enterprise.

Parameters

Kony

SAP Unwired

NATIVE APPLICATION CAPABILITIES

Single code base for all native UI components

Yes

Native UI components have to be developed specific to each platform using native languages

Access to all native capabilities

Yes

Supported with code written in native

Native code generation

Yes

Not at present

User experience

Rich UX

Browser-dependent. Code must be written specifically for each native platform

Choosing the Right Approach

What approach works best for your enterprise? While each organization will have a different mobility strategy, when it comes to selecting mobile enterprise applications, you will reach a point where you have to decide between a point-to-point solution and MEAP. As always, the right solution for your organization depends on your business requirements. The following figure illustrates key factors that will help you decide on a mobility solution that’s appropriate for your organization.

POINT-TO-POINT SOLUTION

– Focus is on building a small number of applications to run on a few mobile operating systems only (Blackberry, iOS, Android, Windows mobile)– Out-of-the-box solution is acceptable, and does not require much customization– Requires very few internal updates

According to industry experts, a MEAP solution works best for organizations looking for over three mobile applications or above 150 users. This decision-making chart will help you select between the two enterprise mobility approaches. However, before making a decision, you need to understand the pros and cons of both types of enterprise mobility solutions and the cost involved in switching between the two solutions in the future should that become necessary.

Conclusion

Of all the factors driving the need for mobility, the main parameters to consider are the number of applications, the device platforms to be supported, the amount of flexibility and control you need for managing the servers and how quickly you plan to scale up. A point-to-point solution is the most cost-effective and fastest approach for an immediate, single mobile application deployment. MEAP is best suited for organizations with a well-defined mobility strategy and a vision for expanding their use of mobile applications.

If you have any questions or need more information about building an integrated mobility solution, please write to the author Kavyanidhi Narayan, Director – Marketing at kavyanidhin@rapidvaluesolutions.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

About RapidValue

A global leader in digital transformation for enterprise providing end-to-end mobility, omni-channel, IoT and cloud solutions. Armed with a large team of experts in consulting, UX design, application development, integration and testing, along with experience delivering projects worldwide, in mobility and cloud, we offer a wide range of services across industry verticals. We deliver services to the world’s top brands, fortune 1000 companies, Multinational companies and emerging start-ups. We have offices in the United States, the United Kingdom and India.

How can we help you?To schedule a demo or to get a quote, get in touch with us.